


lost in an offbeat rhythm

by nemesis (naanobytes)



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet, Canon-Compliant, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Snow, i put both, i wasn't sure whose name to put first for the ship tag so., no beta we die like Glenn, sorry this turned out sadder than i expected
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22749673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naanobytes/pseuds/nemesis
Summary: Like every snowflake was different, though, the world was subject to change and lead Yuri down a different path than the one he expected. Cold, dark, lonely, were all words that he knew to describe Faerghus by. Rarely ever warm, rarely ever sunny, rarely ever bright.
Relationships: Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert/Yuri Leclerc, Yuri Leclerc/Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert, Yuri/Ashe Ubert
Comments: 6
Kudos: 73





	lost in an offbeat rhythm

**Author's Note:**

> this is. hot GARBAGE. but whatever. i needed to contribute to yuriashe in some way because i finished the dlc and it's a literal crime that yuri and ashe don't have ANY supports together. anyway, here, take this fic of them being little kids because i love... They. i apologise in advance for my out of character yuri and also ashe 
> 
> (by the way, this was quite heavily inspired by the only other yuriashe fic on here, 'i knew it well' by novelistangel23. please read that it's like this but better. i just wanted to make some yuriashe damn it)

Even in the southernmost part of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, snow was by no means uncommon. The entire damn _nation_ was covered in snow at any given moment. 

Snow was a bittersweet reminder of years long gone. As a child, his mother had often been out, working to preserve what little they had. She had always come home late into the night, had tucked Yuri into his small bed, and had gone to sleep in her own right beside his with a whispered ‘goodnight.’ A man had visited briefly, had cured Yuri of a sickness he’d hardly been able to grasp he’d had, and had promptly died. He couldn’t remember the man’s face. 

Yuri had grown up, until the age of fourteen, with little but the relentless snowing of Faerghus as company. Many an evening was spent huddled up in a small house alone, curling a knit blanket close to his chest as his only comfort, staring out at the world through the tiny window as the snowflakes collided with the glass. His village was tiny, and nobody wanted the few kids that had survived the sickness to associate with the son of a prostitute, and so they didn’t.

Yuri had grasped this concept from a young age. Living almost entirely alone, existing just by oneself, one had to become very self-reliant in order to make it through. His mother doted on him immensely, yes, and he did her in return, but that was only when she was around to do so. Other times, young Yuri would simply fold his hands and watch the intricately-patterned flakes in a swirling sky of clouds, no sun in sight.

That was before. He couldn’t remember exactly how it happened- how Count Rowe had first seen him, had first acknowledged him, had first decided that he’d wanted to adopt Yuri into his family. He hadn’t had a choice, but neither had he bothered resisting. Rowe territory was simply another place to live, for him- another snowy Faerghus land, with little to offer him but shelter. 

That wasn’t to say that his love for his mother was no more, for she had cared for him for fourteen years of her life, and he was still alive due to her daily efforts. He understood better than anything else in his life what his mother had endured, and he had vowed since the day that he left to provide for her as best as he could, with what he made out of his new life as a member of house Rowe.

House Rowe, however, wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. It wasn’t poor, by any means, but Yuri wasn’t trusted with such things. To be completely honest, he wasn’t sure why Count Rowe had even wanted him there in the first place. Rowe never taught him much, beyond reading and writing, something he’d formerly never had the luxury of. Nothing about managing the house, nothing about being noble, just… _Nothing._ No money was offered to Yuri, and he was only provided with the basic necessities. 

One would think that Yuri would be lonelier than he was before, for at least back in his little western village, his mother had been home sometimes to tuck him under his covers and kiss his forehead as a goodnight. However, there was a crucial thing to realise about it all. 

Some affection- the rarest snippets of it, irregularly dispersed throughout the days and months and years- was akin to none at all. Yuri had spent so many days, weeks, _months_ even, waiting at his home and watching the snow, venturing out into it in thin leather shoes and getting frostbitten toes, offering the meagre amounts of money that his mother left behind to merchants in order to procure something to feed himself, taking up odd (and questionable) jobs of his own in order to fill in the gaps, unsure how long it would be until the next time he saw her again. 

He understood. Of _course_ he understood. And he cared about her no less for it.

However, he was no lonelier at house Rowe than he had been before. No lonelier at all. It was harder to do the odd jobs he was so used to, and after his encounter with the Varleys he’d decided to steer clear from that, but none of that had even at all resembled affection or helped to alleviate any sense of loneliness. There came a point where Yuri no longer felt lonely, accustomed to simply the world for his company.

Like every snowflake was different, though, the world was subject to change and lead Yuri down a different path than the one he expected. Cold, dark, lonely, were all words that he knew to describe Faerghus by. Rarely ever warm, rarely ever sunny, rarely ever bright.

He didn’t expect to be confronted with a Faerghus that was those latter things. A sun, shining in the sky and projecting a light warmth down onto all of the subjects beneath. Weak though it was, it was a haven from the snow that carpeted the ground. Yuri looked to it with his own light in his eyes, narrowed from the luminescence.

Ashe of House Gaspard was quite a lot like that. A smile that was small but genuine and radiant, soft grey hair that was cropped neatly just above his ears, freckles like little snowflakes on his light skin and doe-like jade eyes with all the childish wonder of spring. He was life, and light, and the sun.

(There was something else beneath him too, though- Yuri had grown good at detecting such things, in the years that he’d spent on his own. He could tell in the way that Ashe hesitantly reached for Lord Lonato before flinching away, as if it he was fighting a battle within his own head. Could tell in the way that Ashe held his little sibling’s hands under the awning of a shop, staring up at the snowflakes falling out of the sky like they would burn through his skin if they touched. Could tell in the way that Ashe shivered when Yuri found him sitting alone in that field, snow dropping from the sky and nesting in his silver hair, tears shining like rivulets of water frozen onto his cheeks.)

> _He had met Ashe not many months before. House Rowe and House Gaspard were quite close in proximity, and therefore, relations. Lord Lonato enjoyed company very much, and oftentimes once a month, if not more, Count Rowe would make the journey to Castle Gaspard in order to visit his companion. At first, he had gone with only a few guards of his, but soon enough, he had begun to bring Yuri along with him. Yuri didn’t bother to resist._

> _It had been one of the rare days that the snow was light, rather than storming and swirling. While Rowe and Lonato had talked and caught up, Yuri had turned around and left the castle. He’d sat down in a field of flowers, wilted with the harsh climate, and laid on his back in the snow and dead grass, closing his eyes._

> _Soon, he’d heard a body thump down next to him, and felt warm skin pressing against his through the thin material of his shirt. For a few moments, the two of them had said nothing, simply looking up at the sky with hands shielding their eyes from the falling flakes._

> _Ashe had sat up suddenly, and turned to Yuri with that gentle smile of his. “You’re Yuri, right? Lonato told me all about you. Said you were coming to visit with Count Rowe soon.”_

> _Yuri hadn’t bothered to say anything back. A simple nod of his head sufficed._

> _“Well, Yuri, I’m Ashe! I hope we can become good friends!”_

> _And so, it was._

He knew a lot about Ashe, and Ashe knew very little about him. Yuri was tactful about keeping his personal information a secret, but Ashe was not, despite the fact that Yuri could tell he had been through hell and back- just like him. He knew Ashe’s parents had died. Knew that Ashe had been adopted by Lord Lonato after he’d been found trying to steal from the estate. Knew that Ashe knew how to pick locks and pockets alike from his years out on the snowing streets, cold and freezing, trying to find enough to provide for his siblings. Funny, how two people with such like circumstances had both ended up such different people, yet so similar at the same time.

Summer in Faerghus hardly existed, but on the rare occasions that it did, Ashe could often be found in the field of flowers outside of Castle Gaspard. There existed many types there, but Yuri knew that the purple violets were Ashe’s favourite. (He’d asked Ashe, back when he’d first shared the fact, why he liked them so. Ashe had simply flushed pink, and replied that purple was one of his favourite colours. Yuri could fathom why, but kept his mouth shut and simply smirked in response. He didn’t bring it up again.) 

So, when he entered Castle Gaspard, and found nothing there except for empty stone halls, he turned around and made his way back outside. He drew his cape close around his shoulders, clutching it tightly as if it was the woolen blanket that his mother had knitted for him so many years ago, humming quietly by the window and stopping occasionally to run a hand through a sleeping Yuri’s lilac hair. It wasn’t cold enough to snow, but the wind still bit into his skin like a wolf’s jaws and made it hard for him to breathe.

He found Ashe quickly, in the same place that he always was. Stood in the flowers, back facing Yuri, his shoulders drawn up as if it would make his tiny frame somehow larger. Yuri could only softly place a hand on Ashe’s shoulder, squeeze the fabric between his fingers as if it would change anything. 

Ashe’s fingers were very different from Yuri’s- a bit shorter, and bit wider, a bit more sturdy than Yuri’s. They were meant for handling clunky weapons, like bows and lances, but they held an elegance just like Yuri’s longer and thinner ones. Fingers that were deft at picking locks, stealing things that they needed in order to get by.

However, something that the two of them had never done with their hands was hold each others. And in that moment, when Yuri trailed his hand down Ashe’s arm and intertwined their fingers, so similar yet so different, just like so many things in their lives, Ashe squeezed tighter. A snowflake landed on his cheek, and Yuri leaned forward to kiss it off softly.

Ashe knew he was leaving for good, and Ashe knew that there was nothing he could do about it. Ashe knew that Yuri had things waiting, things that he couldn’t simply leave to be taken care of by other people. So, Yuri rested his head on Ashe’s shoulder one more time, and then let go. 

As he turned and walked away, he could feel Ashe’s soft eyes on him, and the clouds seemed to part for the sun. 

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed at least a little!!! come yell about yuri and/or ashe and/or literally any other fire emblem character at me on my tumblr, @cheeky-nan!


End file.
